Development Pipeline • Section 3 T
he onslaught of COVID-19 did to self-storage develop- ment in 2020 what market conditions failed to do in the previous six years: slow the construction of new facilities.
The pandemic halted most construction activity for a quar-
ter of the year, and this stoppage delayed the openings of planned facilities and, perhaps more significantly, led some developers to rethink future plans.
In 2019, self-storage delivered 1,098 new facilities, slightly
outpacing 2018’s 1,055 openings. The new facility deliveries continued at a blistering pace of development that saw the opening of more than 3,100 stores between 2017 and 2019.
Up until COVID-19 struck, the building activity of recent years had been the biggest development cycle seen in
self-storage. The most active areas are centered in major metros experiencing a large influx of new population or
areas with relatively low barriers to entry. The construction slowdown and the effects of the pan-
demic were expected to contribute to a significant decline in self-storage openings in 2020, likely below the 700 level. Data from Radius+ shows only 446 stores opened by autumn.
In 2019, 619 of the 1,098 openings (55 percent)
were located in the top 50 metropolitan mar- kets, which was virtually the same percentage as 2018. This reflects the industry’s push to locate in densely populated urban areas that have attract- ed new residents to job opportunities and into renewal neighborhoods.
An additional 167 facilities were opened in the
top 50 to 100 core-based statistical area (CBSA) territories, and 312 stores (28.5 percent) were opened in secondary and tertiary markets.
2016 2017 2018 2019
Source: Radius +
All told, there were approximately 1,900 fa- cilities planned and permitted in the U.S. heading into 2021, with 1,076 of those representing top 50 markets. That’s a considerable amount of new storage space, especially in large metro markets, that will need to be filled in the coming years.
Construction value put in place for 2019 was over $4.83
billion, down seven percent year-over-year. Looking forward, Radius+ expects construction spend to continue to slow down after peaking in 2018 at $5.254 billion in value.
2.00% 3.40% 3.70% 3.70%
31,009,579 54,289,434 61,495,410 64,123,080
579 985
1,055 1,098
Active Metro Areas Up until COVID-19 struck, the building activity of recent years had been the biggest development cycle seen in self- storage. The most active areas are centered in major metros experiencing a large influx of new population or areas with relatively low barriers to entry.
Six of the top 10 regions with the largest supply growth
in 2019, based on the percentage of existing facilities, were located in the Southern U.S. South Carolina was the hottest state for growth, with three cities in the top 10. The reasons for growth in the Carolinas will be explored later. See Table 3.3 on page 36.
In terms of facilities under construction during the first
three quarters of 2020, the New York City-Newark, N.J., region led the way with a whopping 67 stores in develop- ment. Dallas-Ft. Worth followed at No. 2 with 38 facilities under construction. Other areas with significant building activity were Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, 27 stores; Phoenix, 22; Atlanta, 20; Washington, D.C.-Arlington, Va., 19; and Phila- delphia-Camden, N.J., 18.
Among the major markets that were hot spots in 2020
with the most facilities under construction were New York at 9.6 percent of existing supply; Portland, Ore., 7.0 per- cent; Miami, 6.6 percent; Washington, D.C., 6.8 percent; and Philadelphia, 6.8 percent. Other cities with a high per- centage of growth were Fayetteville, Ark., 10.7 percent; Albany-Schenectady, N.Y., 8.0 percent; and Knoxville, Tenn., 7.9 percent.
Planning Stage Permitted Stage
Under Construction Source: Radius +
1,323 640 735
4.60% 2.30% 3.10%
2021 Self-Storage Almanac 35
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